Lady Gaga and Fiancé Taylor Kinney Help Raise Over $1 Million for Charity with Icy Polar Plunge

For the second year in a row, Lady Gaga and fiancé Taylor Kinney braved the icy cold waters of Lake Michigan to raise money for Special Olympics Chicago. Gaga joined Al Roker, Kinney and his fellow Chicago Fire cast mates in the freezing lake. “We love the city of Chicago and the Polar Plunge for The Special Olympics,” Gaga wrote on Instagram. “These men and women are brave and powerful. Me and Taylor love getting cold in your honor every year.”

A spokeswoman for Special Olympics Chicago told the Chicago Tribune that Gaga, her fellow celebrities, and over 6,000 other participants raised $1.5 million for the organization. Last year, Gaga wore a Chicago Fire Department t-shirt into the water but this time opted for a Blackhawks cap to show her local pride for the event Mayor Rahm Emanuel called “quintessential Chicago.”

The water wasn’t quite as cold as it’s been in the past; the Tribune reports that in previous years the event’s crew has had to break up ice on the surface of the lake in order to clear a path for the Plungers.

Gaga—who has already had quite the 2016—went into the water on Kinney’s back before the two toppled over and submerged into the lake. (Pretty much exactly how it went down in 2015.) Kinney and his cast mates including Sex and the City alum David Eigenberg splashed around in the frosty water as Gaga was hoisted up by another Plunger.